Modigliani exhibition to open in Prague's Kampa Museum

Prague, Oct 6 (CTK) - The Kampa Museum in Prague will open an exhibition of Italian artist Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920) in November as the first solo exhibition of his work in the country, curator Serena Baccaglini and Monika Burian Jourdan, head of Vernon Gallery co-organiser, told reporters yesterday.

The exhibition will present 14 drawings and six oil paintings along with photographs from Modigliani's life.

Only a couple of Modigliani's paintings were in the past displayed in the National Gallery (NG) in Prague.

Baccaglini and Burian Jourdan said it was difficult to prepare the project for Prague. They negotiated with 15 art collectors about loaning of the artifacts.

Modigliani left 356 works after his death at the age of 36.

"There is not a single art collection in the world with more than five works by Modigliani and the owners of his paintings fear for them very much," Burian Jourdan told CTK.

The exhibition was preceded by two years' study in archives where Baccaglini was trying to find documents about Modigliani's life.

The exhibition in the Kampa Museum will be held on November 12, 2010, to Janaury 20, 2011.

The Kampa Museum of modern and contemporary art from Central Europe, situated in the Kampa park on the Vltava embankment in the historical centre of Prague, houses the collections of U.S.-based Czech art patrons Jan and Meda Mladek. Among the most valuable artifacts from the collection are over 200 drawings and paintings by Czech-born artist Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957), a pioneer of abstract art.

Baccaglini said she would like to connect both Modigliani and Kupka. She was inspired by a photograph from Paris in 1912 where both artists had an exhibition at the same place.